1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to universal joint construction and in particular to a new and useful axial ball and socket joint, particularly for steering suspensions of motor vehicles, where a joint pin is mounted with its ball end elastically in a one-part housing which has a first opening for the passage of the ball pin, and another opening opposite the first opening for the passage of a head screw as a connecting member to the rack of a steering device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In joints of this nature it was found to be of advantage to effect the connection of the ball and socket joint with the rack by means of a head screw which is put through an opening of the joint housing and bolted with the rack. The screw head rests with its bottom plane surface on the corresponding counter-surface of a revolving inner housing shoulder. In this way a very simple connection of a tie rod joint with the rack can be obtained. Due to the separation of the connecting element (head screw) from the joint housing, it is also possible to design the housing with a practically uniform wall thickness, so that it can be produced particularly cheap by extrusion molding.
But the known joint is also disadvantageous insofar as stresses appear when the joint is screwed into the rod, which result from alignment errors and from inaccuracies on the surfaces of the parts to be joined, which were designed heretofore with plane bearing surfaces.